The annals of the Assyrian Empire discovered by
archaeologists record 12 years between the reigns of King Ahab of Israel and King Jehu of Israel. However, the Biblical record records 14 years between the reigns of
these two kings with two kings between them, Ahaziah who ruled for two years and
Jehoram who ruled 12 years ( 1 Kings 22:51; 2 Kings 3:1). What at first glance
appears to be a discrepancy can be easily explained by historians. Ancient
kingdoms had different ways of recording reignal years of their kings. The
Assyrians and Babylonians credited the entire year when a king died to his
reign, even if he died in the beginning of the year and his successor ruled 11
months of that year. That first year for the new Assyrian king would be
designated his "ascension year" and the new king's "year 1" did not begin until
the first day of the following year. Historians call this method the "accession
year" system or the "post-dating" system.

However, in Egypt the newly crowned Pharaoh recorded the
actual year he came to the throne as "year 1" of his reign even though it was a
partial year. This system of dating a reign is called the "non-accession-year"
system, or "ante-dating." The kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel adopted
the Egyptian system of dating a king's reign. Jeroboam I was the first king of
the divided Northern Kingdom of Israel. He was a prince of the tribe of
Ephraim and a descendant of Joseph son of Jacob/Israel and Joseph's Egyptian wife
Asenath. When King Solomon exiled Jeroboam, the refugee Ephraimite prince sought
refuge in Egypt, so it is understandable that the Egyptian system is the one
adopted by the Northern Kingdom's first king. The Kingdom of Judah, on the
other hand, adopted the Assyrian system of only counting the first full year of
a king's reign as "year 1". Therefore, the two year difference between the
Assyrian annals and the Israelite kings Ahab and Jehu are really just one full
year plus part of a year that was counted as the predecessor's year. The 12
years of Joram were 11 full years plus the months from his predecessor's death
and so the Biblical account is not in error. By the Israelite system of
counting reigns Ahaziah and Joram ruled for 14 years, but according to the
Assyrian system, which only counted the full years of a reign, they ruled for
12 years just as Shalmaneser's Assyrian annals record.

You may have noticed that in many lists of the reign of
Rehoboam son of Solomon, King of Judah and Jeroboam I, King of Israel record
the double dates of 931/930BC. Sometimes double dates mean scholars cannot
agree on the date but in this case the double dates have to do with the ancient
dating system. Most western nations count their years from January 1 to the last
day in December. This dating system is a gift of the Catholic Church when she
established the beginning of the year on the 8th day after Jesus'
birth, the day He was circumcised and received His human name. The Church
determined that Christ was born on December the 25th and 8 days
later (counting as the ancients counted before the introduction of zero as a mathematical
place-holder) gives the date January 1st (December 25 counts as day
#1 and the 1st of January as day #8).* However, in ancient times different
peoples had different systems for counting a year. Some civilizations counted
from autumn to autumn, others from spring to spring, and still others from
summer to summer. The ancient Egyptians ran their year from summer to summer
without accounting for a leap year so their calendar would lose a day every
four years. Some cultures like the Israelites had both a liturgical calendar
and a civil calendar. The civil calendar ran from the early fall to the next
early fall, or from Tishri to Elul in the Hebrew calendar while the liturgical
calendar, commanded by God in Exodus 12:1-2, extended from the early spring in
Nisan (Abib/Aviv) to the next early spring in Adar in the Hebrew calendar. So
between two different cultures a recorded year could span two parts of our
modern years. This ambiguity in dating existed even for the ancients when
neighboring societies used a different dating system. For example, years in
the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah began in different seasons of the
year with a year in one kingdom being half a year in the other and therefore
the beginning of the reigns of Rehoboam and Jeroboam I can be dated to both 931
and 930BC—their years overlapping each other.

A logical question might be, "How did historians and Bible
scholars arrive at the dates 931-930BC for the beginning of the reign of these
two kings?" Discovered Egyptian records allow scholars to arrive at a good fix
on the years of King Solomon's reign. Historians have a firm date of 664BC for
the beginning of the reign of Egypt's XXVI Dynasty Pharaoh. Prior to 664BC
Egyptian records fix the reign of Pharaoh Taharqa (Biblical Tirhakah) at 26
years; giving scholars the date of 690BC. Egyptian annals record that
Taharqa's two predecessors, Pharaohs Shebitku and Shabako each reigned for 25
years, giving scholars the date of 715BC. Preceding the reign of these kings
was the reign of 10 pharaohs of the XXII Dynasty; a dynasty founded by Pharaoh
Shoshenq, who in the Bible is called Shishak, the pharaoh who invaded the Kingdom
of Judah in the 5th year of Judahite King Rehoboam's reign (see 1
Kings 14:25-26; 2 Chronicles 12:1-9) as well as the neighboring kingdom of
Israel. Pharaoh Shoshenq was kind enough to leave behind a record of his
victories in a triumphal relief at the great Egyptian Temple of Karnak and a victory stela at Silisila commemorating his military campaigns. Therefore,
calculating the known years the 10 pharaohs of the XXII Dynasty reigned back to
Shoshenq/Shishak gives 227 years, or as scholars point out, more likely 230
years since the Egyptians counted only part of a year a king came to the throne
as "year 1". In years that is a span, counting backwards from the 715BC
determined from the reigns of Pharaohs Shebitku and Shabako, of 715BC to 945BC,
which can be determined to be the beginning of Shoshenq/Shishak's reign as
pharaoh of Egypt.

In addition to knowing the date of the beginning of
Shoshenq/Shishak's reign, this pharaoh recorded that his military campaign
against Israel and Judah was made in the 20th or 21st
year of his reign (as recorded on his victory stela at Silisila which is dated
to his 21st year). This evidence dates the campaign to 926/925BC.
The Bible records the Egyptian invasion occurred in the 5th year of
Rehoboam's reign which gives a date of 931/930 for the death of King Solomon
and the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam, King of Judah and Jeroboam I, King
of Israel.

In much the same way Assyrian records can be used to
determine the dates of Israel's kings from the divided kingdom period. The
dates derived from the Egyptian evidence agree with the dates derived from the
Assyrian evidence to the extent that scholars feel confident dating King
Solomon's reign to the mid-10th century BC and his son, King
Rehoboam's "year 1" to 931/930BC.

Note: * Dionysius Exiguus, "Dennis the Short" (c. 500-560) the
Greek abbot of Rome circa 525 introduced the new method of dating events from
the birth of Jesus Christ instead of using the old system of dating from the
year from the beginning of the rule of a Roman Emperor or the founding of the
city of Rome in the pagan era. In dating time from Christ's birth, all dates
after this pivot point in history, Dennis suggested, should be dated "in the
year of the Lord", in Latin "Anno Domini" which came to be abbreviated as "AD."
From the year of Christ's birth forward the years would be dated year 1 AD,
year 2 AD, etc. The years prior to the birth of Christ would be counted
backward from the year before Christ's birth. There was no year "0" because
the concept of zero as a mathematical place-holder had not yet been
introduced. He also suggested dating the New Year from the day Jesus was named
and circumcised, 8 days after His birth, which the Church determined to be
December the 25th . Unfortunately for Dennis, his new calendar was
not immediately accepted. In the 8th century AD the Venerable Bede,
English priest and Biblical scholar, adopted Dennis' system and dated events
recorded in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People "Before
Christ" and events after the birth of Christ as "Anno Domini." Other 8th
century chronicles adopted the system used by the Bede and King Charlemagne,
designated Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope in the year 800, began using the
system of dating in his imperial decrees. Eventually by the 10th
century the Latin Church fully accepted Dennis' system of dating from the birth
of Jesus Christ.

Archaeological evidence which supports the Biblical
record:

The discovery of Pharaoh Siamun's relief: Pharaoh
Siamun, a contemporary of Israel's King Solomon, ordered a triumphal relief
commemorating his campaign against the Philistines c. 970-960. The Bible
records that a pharaoh conquered the Philistine city of Gezer and gave it as a
dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife in 1 Kings 9:16.

The discovery of Pharaoh Shoshenq's triumphal relief
at Karnak and stela at Silisila: These artifacts commemorate Pharaoh
Shoshenq's (Biblically identified as Shishak) campaign in Israel 925 and in
Judah 924BC during King Rehoboam's reign recorded in 1 Kings 14:25-26; 2
Chronicles 12:1-9.

Annals of Shalmaneser III (853/52): The Assyrian
annalsmention King Ahab of Israel by name.

Annals of Shalmaneser III (841/40): The Assyrian
annals mention King Jehu of Israel by name.